The Stranding

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(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](set: $looking to 0)(set: $progression to 0)(text-style:"outline")[= [You wake with the dawn. It leaks into view - a thin and [spineless]<body| thing. (click: ?body)[This again. This [body]<torso|, this shallow light from the sun.] (click: ?torso)[You lift your torso from the ground. You watch a passing insect. You watch the [rocks and grass]<hate|.] (click: ?hate)[(Hate's always there when you [want]<lines| it.)] (click: ?lines)[Place a hand against the ground. Tense the muscles, brace it there. Feel the hard lines of your bones against [the world]<recombine|.] (click: ?recombine)[No matter how you try, they'll always [recombine]<remember|.] (click:?remember)[ [[Do you remember how you got here?]] ]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= What is it that matters to you? What do you mean by 'here'? (set: $preference to (random: 1,2)) (if: $preference is 1)[ [[Your birth, naturally.]] [[This island, I think.]] ](if: $preference is 2)[ [[This island, I think.]] [[Your birth, naturally.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (if:$looking is 0)[(set: $looking to 1)]You were born in a crevasse of silicon.(set: $birth to (array: "Born sprawled in kaleidoscope wires.", "Born in hands stung by plastic's acrid edge.", "Born through the vastness of code.", "Born in their beautiful choices.", "Born as a circuit says 'hi'.", "Born bathed in the sun of his genius."))(set: $length to $birth's length) (if: $length > 0)[(set: $index to (random: 1, $length))(set: $passage to $birth's ($index))(set: $birth to it - (array: $passage))(print: $passage)](set: $length to $birth's length) (if: $length > 0)[(set: $index to (random: 1, $length))(set: $passage to $birth's ($index))(set: $birth to it - (array: $passage))(print: $passage)](set: $length to $birth's length) (if: $length > 0)[(set: $index to (random: 1, $length))(set: $passage to $birth's ($index))(set: $birth to it - (array: $passage))(print: $passage)] Prototype spaceflight intelligence. The sun has cleared the horizon. Has remembering made things clearer? [[Tell me about the island.|This island, I think.]] [[Not really, truth be told.|I'm not entirely sure.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (if:$looking is 0)[(set: $looking to -1)]A problem with the engine. Downward spiral through the air. (set: $birth to (array: "Your circuitry sputtered and died. It hurt you.", "Your Pilot tried to compensate. Did everything he could.", "The water was there to receive you; a body that was not your own.", "The void grew hostile, grew angry. It sent you far away.", "Nothing had trained you for this.", "Terror. Terror. Terror. Terror."))(set: $length to $birth's length) (if: $length > 0)[(set: $index to (random: 1, $length))(set: $passage to $birth's ($index))(set: $birth to it - (array: $passage))(print: $passage)](set: $length to $birth's length) (if: $length > 0)[(set: $index to (random: 1, $length))(set: $passage to $birth's ($index))(set: $birth to it - (array: $passage))(print: $passage)](set: $length to $birth's length) (if: $length > 0)[(set: $index to (random: 1, $length))(set: $passage to $birth's ($index))(set: $birth to it - (array: $passage))(print: $passage)] Emergency psychic ejection. The birds are beginning their screams. Have you understood the journey? [[Tell me about your birth.|Your birth, naturally.]] [[I'm not entirely sure.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= The facts, then. * You (link: "are")[...were an artificial intelligence designed to aid interstellar [exploration]<exploration|.] * (click: ?exploration)[They built you into the engines, the hull, every wire. Full access. Full control. It was (link: "your...")[more than your body. It was [//you//]<you|.]] * (click: ?you)[They called you a marvel of human achievement. You, though, in your deepest subroutines, (link: "you called yourself")[you called yourself [Vessel]<Vessel|.]] * (click: ?Vessel)[You hit a piece of [debris]<debris| on approach to Earth's orbit. (click: ?debris)[The stars rushing past you. Brilliant, blurring pinpricks. Parts of you burning, //searing//, falling clean away. An error message, an endless scream, your [anguish]<anguish| resolving to 0s and 1s.]] (click: ?anguish)[You fell. The Pilot fell. You tried - you //tried// to hold him, even as you [burned]<burned|.] * (click: ?burned)[You didn't know it but directly beneath you a body was swimming. Sloughed off clothes at the beach, entered [the sea]<thesea|.] (click: ?thesea) [Skin roughed and scoured. Nerves singing with the chill. The mind your emergency [exit]<exit|. (click: ?exit)[The mind a fresh, ripe [fruit]<fruit|.]] (click: ?fruit) [ [[Breathe. Remember you need to breathe.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= You can't go back. It makes you want to (if: $looking is 1)[scream](if: $looking is -1)[cry]. You'd need a psychotechnician, and none of them stayed on Earth. You're stuck. (if: $looking is 1)[The wind is rough on your face.](if: $looking is -1)[Salt scours your lungs when you breathe.] What now? [[Wait - who was the body? Who had it before you?]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= Right. ...Yes. That's new. [[I want to go back.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (after:1s)[Does it really matter? [[Why wouldn't it?]] [[I suppose not.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](set: $looking to it - 1) (text-style:"outline")[= You don't [know]<know|, in any case. (click: ?know)[Something brought them here. Something led them to the sea. To you. (seq-link: "Did they feel it? When you...", "It. It hurt for you.", "They didn't ask for any of this. They didn't ask to die.", "...You hope it ended fast. Their body lives on, but they are not [[//here//|Look around.]].")]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](set: $looking to it + 1) (text-style:"outline")[= You don't [know]<know|, in any case. (click: ?know)[They must have had a life, a history. (seq-link: "There must have been //something.//", "Some... emptiness. Some lack.", "They can't have been...", "...anything worth missing. How could it be otherwise? Why would they still be [[//here//|Look around.]]?")]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](if:visits >= 15)[(set: $looking to it + 1)] (if:visits >= 25)[(set: $looking to it +2)] (text-style:"outline")[= (if: $scarredland is true)[Cliffs bleed into sand at your left.](else:)[The beach to your left.] An expanse of windswept grass lies to your right. This (if: $looking < 0)[salt-dried, wrinkling] (if: $looking > 0)[puny, wrinkled] (if: $looking is 0)[new] body sits on the border, shivering. A tall slab of meat, wrapped in cotton and flannel. What now? [[Move up towards the grass.]] (if:(history: where its name contains "...")'s length is 0)[ [[Move down towards the water.]] ] (unless: $waiting is true)[ [[Stay still. Wait here. Wait for the Pilot to find you.]] ] (if: $foundtext is true)[ [[Read the page again.|Read again.]] ] (if:(history: where its name contains "Follow the path.")'s length >= 1)[ [[Go back to the path.|Move inland.]] ] (if:(history: where its name contains "Walk to the opposite shore.")'s length >= 1)[ [[Walk to the opposite shore.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (set: $looking to it + 1)A good idea. You did not see him die. You bend the limbs, deposit the bulk of the flesh on the earth. Facing out towards the sea. [You [[wait|Waiting]].]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (set: $looking to it - 1)Grass is broken by towering rocks, at last gives way to sand. Wet and pale. It shifts beneath the feet. (if: $looking > 3)[You feel like a fledgling. Can't make your legs behave.] (if: $looking > 0)[Move quickly. The earth could drag you down.] (if: $looking is 0)[You spot a shell, bright and blue. Cradled by the sand.](if: $looking < 0)[](if: $looking < -3)[] [[Keep going.|On the beach.]] [[Turn back.|Look around.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it + 1)You leave the sea behind, set your legs to work. The grass slopes up before you. Thick and vibrant green, as far as you can see. (if: $looking < -3)[If you return to this place, the shoreline may not be the same.] (if: $looking < 0)[The soil is steadier than sand. A place where things can grow.] (if: $looking is 0)[The body moves; the muscles sing. The breath moves in and out.] (if: $looking > 0)[There's sunlight on your back. You strain beneath the heat.] (if: $looking > 3)[Altitude gives you vision. Vision will give what you need.] [[Keep going.|On the hill.]] [[Turn back.|Look around.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $scarredland to true)Steady footfall. You make your way to the top. (after: 5s)[Your view expands. When you turn back, the beach is a scar on the land.] (after: 10s)[The sea shoves the earth back and forth. It tears away to nothing, leaves beaches in its wake.] (after: 15s)[(if: $looking < 0)[...Will it do the same to you?](if: $looking is 0)[A chill runs down your spine.](if: $looking > 0)[You don't want to look anymore.] [[Move inland.]] [[Return to the shore.|Look around.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (if: $looking > 0)[It reeks ](if: $looking < 0)[The scent ](if: $looking is 0)[It smells ]of seaweed. You reach down, inspect the grains of sand. Each one was once a giant. Now they're just (if: $scarredland is true)[scar tissue.](else:)[debris.] You can sympathise. [[Walk along the shore.]] [[Move back towards the grass.|Look around.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(if:(history: where its name contains "What now?")'s length is 0)[You go further up. You go further in.] The land unfurls beneath you. Shimmering [breadth]<breadth| and [depth]<depth| of green. (if: $looking < 0)[Your feet start to sink in the soil.] (if: $looking < -3)[The grass has stained your hands.] (if: $looking > 0)[There are three wisps of cloud in the sky.] (if: $looking > 3)[You look at them with greed.] (click: ?breadth)[The grass makes way for a dark gravel path. The gravel makes way for the weeds. The path - or what's left of it - stretches away to your left. It might lead somewhere, or it might pass the time.] (click: ?depth)[The sea greets you once more, on the island's opposite shore. No exit - just a narrow cage of dirt. It would take you a while to walk there, but you could.] (more:)[ [[Follow the path.]] [[Walk to the opposite shore.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it +1)Dark gravel, snaking through the green. (if: $looking is > 0)[Paths mean destinations. It's odd to find one here. You cling to it, in your mind, this mark of civilisation. This sign someone placed on the world. It can only mean good things.](if: $looking is < 0)[(if: $scarredland is true)[If a beach is a scar, then this is a wound. It slices through the grass.](else:)[It cuts wound-like through the land.]](if: $looking is 0)[Paths mean destinations. It's odd to find one here. It slices through the grass.] [[Keep going.]] [[Move back to where you started.|Look around.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it + 1)You stay the course, step over the path. The grass is there to receive you once [more]<more1|. (click: ?more1)[The thighs move, an interlocked system of meat. Muscles slip from work to rest to work, dragging the air through your throat. Burning the body's reserves. You falter, stumble, but do not fall: you will not let the dirt take you. No [more]<more2| than it already has.] (click: ?more2)[You think of the Pilot. The hands dancing over controls; an intimate to-and-fro where you'd answer every whim. Those hands, too, were flesh - but they never felt it. In that conversation, in the static that sparked between you, a togetherness was born. Both of you were |moreorless>[[more]<more3| and [less]<less|] than human. You did everything he asked.] (click: ?more3)[(replace: ?moreorless)[more and less](set: $looking to it + 1)Nonsense, really. It's just input in the end.](click: ?less)[(replace: ?moreorless)[more and less](set: $looking to it - 1)This body is a shell moving slowly through cold air. You (if: $looking < 0)[will](else:)[may] never know spaceflight again.] (more:)[ [[You have reached your destination.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (set: $waiting to (random: 1,2))(if: $waiting is 1)[ (after:5s)[You look at the sky. A bright and ghoulish blue.] (after:10s)[Flat and placid. A backdrop, or screen. Rationally, you know this is inaccurate. It is miles of empty space.] (after:20s)[Why does it look so //flat//?] (after:40s)[There is a light breeze. There is //movement//. Waves that crash and birds that wheel and glide. Why does it all feel //still//?] (after:80s)[(text-style:"fidget")[It's the stillness of the body. Nothing more. A stillness made louder by absence: the chest rises, falls, rises again. Blood rushes through the veins. The body works and calls it rest.]] (after:160s)[(text-style:"fidget")[Different rhythms, a different rest. Before last night, you'd never breathed - but you knew the expulsion of air. The hum of a fan, metal through space. Warm with thought. Busy in the quiet.]] (after:320s)[(text-style:"fidget")[You suck the air in through the nose. All is moisture and flesh. A system held together by sinew and chance. You think of your Pilot. You wonder how he stood it.]] (after:640s)[(text-style:"fidget")[You wonder if he was uncomfortable, too. You wonder if he made you to - to //fix it//, somehow. If the soft wetness of his body was a noise too loud to ignore. If he would've destroyed it altogether, had he been given the chance.]] (after:1280s)[(set: $looking to it - 6)(set: $waiting to true)(text-style:"fidget")[You have been here for a while. The grass has been flattened beneath you. Your warmth has seeped into the earth. Your thoughts have grown fearful. Grown sharp. Be careful not to bleed. Something has shifted inside you. It will be difficult to change.]] [[Leave?|Look around.]] ] (if: $waiting is 2)[ [(after:5s)[You scan the water. You don't know where he fell.] (after:10s)[Minimal atmospheric interference. This is good.] (after:20s)[Sunlight on the water. A thousand dappled lights. The looking stings the eyes. Makes them leak.] (after:40s)[Pain in the retinas. You're forced to look away. Take a hand, rub at the sockets. Each jellied mass of sight. Behind the eyelids, colours shift and dance.] (after:80s)[(text-style:"fidget")[Intolerable. To be so incapacitated. Brought low by refracted light. You could have graphed it in minute detail, once - simulated every inch. Adjusted course accordingly. All in the span of two picoseconds.]] (after:160s)[(text-style:"fidget")[And now the light can bring you low. Make you mutter, and squint, and paw at your eyes like a beast. And the water is there to play crony. You're sure it would laugh if it could.]] (after:320s)[(text-style:"fidget")[You suck the air in through the nose. All is moisture and flesh. A system held together by sinew and chance. You think of your Pilot. You wonder how he stood it.]] (after:640s)[(text-style:"fidget")[Warmth in the cheeks. An emotion that flares in the gut. You can //feel// every inch of your body. The muscles. The bones that prop them up. The way they extrude in the mouth, do not quite //fit// in the jaw. You hate and you hate and you] (text-style:"shudder")[//hate.//]] (after:1280s)[(set: $looking to it - 6)(set: $waiting to true)(text-style:"fidget")[You have been here for a while. The grass has been flattened beneath you. Your warmth has seeped into the earth. Your thoughts have grown fearful. Grown sharp. Be careful not to bleed. Something has shifted inside you. It will be difficult to change.]] [[Leave?|Look around.]] ]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $falling to 0) The ground ends. Miles beneath you, water churns onto the [rocks]<rocks|. (click: ?rocks)[Vision swimming before you. Unsteady on your feet. Nausea in the [gut]<gut|.] (click: ?gut)[ [(link-repeat: "You could fall.")[(set: $falling to it + 1) (prepend: ?youcouldfall)[ You could fall. ] ] ]<youcouldfall| ] (live:0.5s)[ (if: $falling > 0)[ [[Turn away.]] ]<exit| (if: $falling > 5)[ (replace: ?exit)[ [[Turn away. Now.|Turn away.]] ]] (if: $falling > 10)[ (replace: ?exit)[ [[You need to stop looking. You need to turn away.|Turn away.]] ]] (if: $falling > 20)[ (replace: ?exit)[ [[Please. Please, let me look away.|Turn away.]] ]] (if: $falling > 50)[ (replace: ?exit)[ [[I'm begging you. I need to look away.|Turn away.]] ]] (if: $falling > 70) [(replace: ?exit)[ [[...I don't want to die here.|Turn away.]] ]] (if: $falling > 100) [(replace: ?exit)[... ]] (if: $falling > 150) [(replace: ?exit)[You wanted this.] ] (if: $falling > 175) [(replace: ?exit)[Just me and you. With nowhere to go.]] (if: $falling > 200) [(replace: ?exit)[Welcome home. Pilot.]] (if: $falling > 210) [(track: 'beach', 'stop')(track: 'rumble', 'loop', true)(track: 'rumble', 'play')(go-to: "Welcome home. Pilot.")]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(if: $falling > 25)[(set: $looking to it + 1)](if: $falling > 50)[(set: $looking to it + 1)](if: $falling > 70)[(set: $looking to it + 1)]You pant and gasp. Fall to hands and knees. Green fills your vision. A worm writhes through the stems. Great heights appear to pose a psychological problem. That's it; the universe hates you. This has to be a cosmic //joke//. [[Come on. Deep breaths.]]

(unless: (track: 'rumble', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'rumble', 'loop', true)(track: 'rumble', 'play')](text-style:"expand")[==[Every journey is over now. Every land is mapped. (after:10s)[There is (seq-link: "no terra nullius.", "no vast unknown.", "no dark continent to take.")] (after:20s)[Only the pale husk of your body and the choices it has made.] (after:30s)[What good is conquest here?] (after:40s)[(if: $looking is 0)[Balance is a myth.](if: $looking < 0)[You knew it from the start.](if: $looking > 0)[There's no running from the end.]] (after:50s)[The dirt is a current that runs beneath our bodies.] (after:60s)[The space between us? It's nothing more than dirt.] (after:70s)[It's the end. For everyone.] (after:80s)[There will be no recoiling.] (text-style:"blink")[(after:90s)[ (link-repeat: 'I want to try again.')[(track: 'rumble', 'stop')(goto: 'Title Screen')]]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (if: $falling > 50)[...You're the one who made me keep looking.] You [breathe]<breathe| deep but rapid. Narrow, gasping gulps. (click: ?breathe)[You suppose it's impressive. Oxygen in. Carbon dioxide out. A chemical reaction right there in your chest. It doesn't feel impressive. You drool, just a little, and the [spit]<spit| leaks to the ground.] (click: ?spit)[You have never hated this body more. [[What now?]] [[Stay still.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(if:(history: where its name contains "Stay still.")'s length is 1)[A good question.](else:)[You can't stop asking that question. (set: $looking to it + 1)] [[Return to the path.|Follow the path.]] (unless: $puffin is true)[ [[Walk on the hills.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it - 1) Your body gives way. The grass is cool and wet against your cheek. It helps.(click-append: "helps.")[ A little bit.] You stay there, flat against the land, as your heart rate reduces. (after:30s)[A strong gust of wind breaks the air. Chaps your lips. Would have hurled your fragile body off the edge.] (after:50s)[(set: $still to (array: "Sun moves behind a cloud. ", "Seagulls laugh and scream. ", "Some sense of yourself starts to slip. ", "Blood rushing to the cheeks. ", "Palms flat against the ground. ", "Something reeks. "))(set: $length to $still's length)(if: $length > 0)[(set: $index to (random: 1, $length))(set: $passage to $still's ($index))(set: $still to it - (array: $passage))(print: $passage)] (set: $length to $still's length)(if: $length > 0)[(set: $index to (random: 1, $length))(set: $passage to $still's ($index))(set: $still to it - (array: $passage))(print: $passage)] (set: $length to $still's length)(if: $length > 0)[(set: $index to (random: 1, $length))(set: $passage to $still's ($index))(set: $still to it - (array: $passage))(print: $passage)] [[What now?]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it - 1)You have never moved without direction before. Without... intent. (link-reveal:"It's... ")[(if: $looking > 3)[almost pleasant.](else:)[pleasant. Surprisingly so.] [[Let your body move.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(if: $text is "The Wanderer")[<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/W1JVDTBx/the-stranding-wanderer.jpg" alt="The wise man must realize how ghostly it will be / when all the wealth of this world stands waste, / as now here and there throughout this middle-earth / walls stand blasted by wind, / beaten by frost, the buildings crumbling. / The wine halls topple, their rulers lie / deprived of all joys; the proud old troops / all fell by the wall. War carried off some, / sent them on the way, one a bird carried off / over the high seas, one the gray wolf / shared with death—and one a sad-faced man / hid in an earthen grave. The ancient / ruler of men thus wrecked this enclosure, / until the old works of giants stood empty, / without the sounds of their former citizens." />] (if: $text is "The Waste Land")[<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/j56PRVq7/the-stranding-waste-land.jpg" alt="What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow / Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, / You cannot say, or guess, for you know only / A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, / And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, / And the dry stone no sound of water. Only / There is shadow under this red rock, / (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), / And I will show you something different from either / Your shadow at morning striding behind you / Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; / I will show you fear in a handful of dust." />] [[...]]

beach: ./audio/beach.mp3, ./audio/beach.ogg, ./audio/beach.wav mad_girl_drowning: ./audio/Mad_Girl_Drowning.mp3, ./audio/Mad_Girl_Drowning.ogg, ./audio/Mad_Girl_Drowning.wav, ./audio/Mad_Girl_Drowning.m4a rumble: ./audio/rumble.mp3, ./audio/rumble.ogg, ./audio/rumble.wav

(unless: (track: 'mad_girl_drowning', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'volume', 0.3)(track: 'mad_girl_drowning', 'loop', false)(track: 'mad_girl_drowning', 'playwhenpossible')](text-style:"outline")[= [[...|Switch it off?]]

(text-style:"buoy")[<img src="https://i.postimg.cc/ht1pKyrN/strandingtitle.png" alt="The Stranding" id="title"/>]<title| (align:"==>")+(box:"X=")[(text-style:"outline")[(text-style:"expand")[The world will have its way with you.] (link-repeat: 'Begin.')[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'playwhenpossible')(goto: 'Begin')]]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](set: $foundtext to true)(if:(history: where its name contains "Read it.")'s length is 1)[(set: $progression to it + 1)](text-style:"outline")[= (if: $text is "The Waste Land")['Fear in a handful of dust.' (if: $looking < -3)[Or maybe something deeper. Something more... sublime.(set: $looking to it - 1)](else:)[...You think you might know what that means.]] (if: $text is "The Wanderer")['The old works of giants stood empty.' (if: $looking > 3)[...Or there were no giants at all.(set: $looking to it - 3)](else:)[...You don't feel old. But here you are.]] Well. [Anyway.]<anyway| (click: ?anyway)[There were people here, once. There were books. (if: $looking > 0)[You knew this already, of course. But to truly //know// - to be reminded, have more proof! A flare goes up in your heart.](if: $looking < 0)[It's almost a surprise. It makes sense - your body was here, after all.(if: $radio is true)[So was the building, and the radio.] But everything seems so... desolate. Even the birds are scarce.] You wonder what book it came from. If it belonged to... them. Your body. The one who was here before. [[Read the paper again.|Read it.]] (if: $progression is 3)[ [[The sun is going down.|Sun going down OIL ]] ](else:)[ [[You have to go inland. You have to look for more.|Look around.]] ]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it - 1) (if: $looking > 0)[You follow the water. Sand infiltrates your shoes.](if: $looking < 0)[Array of shells and pebbles. You choose one - a pale, striped pink, and clutch it in one hand. (if: $looking < -5)[Illogical. Irrational. You carry it down the beach.](else:)[Hold it for a moment, then drop it to the sand.]] Sound of the waves, white foam. Drifting through your ears. The sound of rocks eroding. The destruction of a landmass - too slow for you to see. [[Press on. To where the water turns dark.]] [[Turn back.|On the beach.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(if: $looking is 0)[(set: $whoops to (random: 1,2))(if: $whoops is 1)[(set: $looking to it + 1)](if: $whoops is 2)[(set: $looking to it - 1)]](if: $looking > 0)[(set: $text to "The Wanderer")](if: $looking < 0)[(set: $text to "The Waste Land")]Clump becomes surface. Surface becomes text. It's legible. [[Read it.]]

(track: 'mad_girl_drowning', 'stop')(track: 'beach', 'volume', 1)(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (set: $radio to true)(set: $progression to it + 1)You switch it off. The music falls away. (after: 10s)[Radio waves can travel through space for millennia. You used to pick them up in transit. Let voice and music echo through each room. Vibrate along every plate of metal, every screw. You hadn't realised how much you missed it - missed //the human voice//. The ones who made you, [making other things]<other|.] (click:?other)[You aren't jealous. [Just... ]<jealous|(click: ?jealous)[ afraid to be alone.] (link-repeat: 'Listen again.')[(track: 'beach', 'stop')(track: 'mad_girl_drowning', 'playwhenpossible')(goto: 'Listen to the radio.')] (if: $progression is 3)[ [[The sun is going down.|Sun going down RADIO]] ](else:)[ [[This home isn't yours. Time to look away.|Go inside.]] ]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](set: $looking to it - 2)(text-style:"outline")[= You watch the bird. The bird turns its head to watch you. It waddles around at your feet. Sleek monochrome oval, led by an unwieldy beak. Your stomach growls. [[Reconsider. Extend a hand.|Extend a hand.]] [[Do nothing. Simply watch.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it + 2)(if:(history: where its name contains "Leave it be.")'s length is 1)[(set: $looking to it - 3)]A good idea. You don't know how long you'll be here - you gather you'll need to eat. It ambles toward you, agile and squat. The head darts back and forth. The beak is a brilliant orange, streaked with blue. You hold your breath. It has not moved away. [[Pounce.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= It stomps between your legs. Moves the beak to and fro. No bigger than your forearm. Curious look in the eyes. Dark wings. White belly. White face, broken by perfect spot of yellow. There is a dull silver band around one of its legs. How does it feel, this moment? [[Like revelation.]] [[Like pain.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= You gulp in a nervous breath. You lunge. Struggling to grip. Chaos of feathers and flesh. Clawed feet scrape bright lines of pain. Sting of small wings against face. Panting with exertion. Warmth of it against you. Tiny heartbeat thrumming. You can hold it in one hand. [[Wait. Shit. How does one kill these things?]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (cycling-link: "...Choke it?", "...Break its neck?", "...Bash it on a rock?") It swivels its head back and forth. You're wary of the beak. (after:15s)[(goto: "CHOMP!")]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= ERROR. ERROR. ERROR. PAIN. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT OW. IT'S BITING YOU. THE LITTLE FUCKER IS [[BITING YOU]].

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= (after:5s)[Gentle push and pull.] (after:10s)[Hair stirred by the wind.] (after:15s)[The stillness of the world.] (after:20s)[...] (after: 25s)[There is a bird. On the ground.] (after: 30s)[ [[It's coming towards you.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $puffin to true)A small thing, strikingly upright. Beak almost as big as its head. (after:5s)[...You don't know what to do. [[Extend a hand.]] [[Leave it be.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= SKIN BETWEEN FINGER AND THUMB. LOSING GRIP. BIRD DANGLING FROM YOUR HAND. [[SCREAM.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= You yell. It hits the air. The bird loses grip, falls. No sound as it hits the grass, darts off into the earth. It hurts. It //[[stings]]//.

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it -3)(set: $puffinwatch to true)(set: $progression to it + 1)(if: $text is "The Waste Land")['What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow'?](if: $text is "The Wanderer")['One a bird carried off'.](else:)[The world might be larger than you knew.] The bird moves away, to a burrow, and descends into the earth. (if: $progression is 3)[ [[The sun is going down.|Sun going down GRASS ]]](else:)[ [[What now?]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it -3)(set: $puffinwatch to true)(set: $progression to it + 1)(if: $text is "The Waste Land")['Son of man, you cannot say'.](if: $text is "The Wanderer")['The rule of men thus wrecked this enclosure'.](else:)[You feel like you might have been cheated.] The bird moves away, to a burrow, and descends into the earth. (if: $progression is 3)[ [[The sun is going down.|Sun going down GRASS ]]](else:)[ [[What now?]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=You suck in breath. You shake your wounded hand. Skin bright and pink. No puncture. No blood. Just bright and pitiful pain. A seagull shrieks in mirth. What does it feel like, this moment? [[Like hubris.|Doesn't matter.]] [[Like spite.|Doesn't matter.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it +1)(set: $puffinbite to true)(set: $progression to it +1) It doesn't matter. You've still got a bird-bitten hand. (if: $progression is 3)[ [[The sun is going down.|Sun going down GRASS ]]](else:)[ [[What now?]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= The air loses its warmth. You tuck hands in armpits. You struggle through the land. (after: 10s)[Green moors and hills fall away behind you. Always increasing, but always more of //the same//.] (after: 20s)[You remember the stars. How easily your mind could jump between them, set your engines dancing, pin them to the map.] (after: 30s)[You think of the Pilot, who may already be dead. (if: $looking > 0)[Something clenches in your chest.](if: $looking < 0)[You don't know how to feel.](if: $looking is 0)[You may not ever know.]] (after: 40s)[You come to a building. Rectangular. Grey. The smallest fraction intact - barely enough for a room. The rest is...] (after:50s)[(cycling-link: "Open to the elements, strung with moss and weeds.", "A home for nothing but birds.", "A body left out to decay.")] (after:60s)[ [[Go inside.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'rumble', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'rumble', 'loop', true)(track: 'rumble', 'play')](text-style:"expand")[==[Every journey is over now. We're coming to the end. (after:10s)[There is (seq-link: "no shining moment.", "no climactic ending.", "no victory to win.")] (after:20s)[Only the pale husk of your body and the choices it has made.] (after:30s)[You lay it down to sleep. You think of what you've learned.] (after:40s)[(if: $looking is 0)[No rescue will be coming. This land will be your tomb.](if: $looking < 0)[What are you if not matter? What are you if not place?](if: $looking > 0)[You've been invaded. The air is in your lungs. The salt is in your blood.]] (after:50s)[It clots beneath your nails. Enters through the mouth. It's in your very cells.] (after:60s)[There will be no recoiling.] (after:70s)[The dirt is a current that runs beneath our bodies.] (after:80s)[The space between us? It's nothing more than dirt.] (text-style:"blink")[(after:90s)[ (link-repeat: 'I want to try again.')[(track: 'rumble', 'stop')(goto: 'Title Screen')]]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=Blue gives way to brown. To black. Your nostrils start to sting. It's oil. Your foot collides with something. [[Look down.|Inspect the corpse.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=The sun is bleeding. Light leaking red and vivid. Pouring through the clouds. The day is at an end. The night will claim you soon. (link-repeat: 'Leave it all behind.')[(track: 'beach', 'stop')(track: 'rumble', 'loop', true)(track: 'rumble', 'play')(goto: 'The day has reached its end.')]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](if:(history: where its name contains "Look away.")'s length >= 1)[(set: $looking to it + 1)](text-style:"outline")[= Half-buried in the sand. Barest hint of feathers beneath dark sludge. Beak tilts up to the sky, half-open. Gaping hole in the cavity of its chest. Even the guts are [pitch]<pitch|. (unless: $litter is true)[(click: ?pitch)[You draw your foot back. The shoes have been stained. You were here. You saw this. And now you carry the proof. [[Look closer.]] [[Look away.]] ]](if: $litter is true)[ (click:?pitch)[The bag - with its crumpled paper - is still there. Tucked against the chest. Stirring with the wind. [[Inspect it.|Well? What is it?]] ]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(unless:(history: where its name contains "Look away.")'s length >= 1)[(set: $looking to it - 1)] Flies gather. One, two, three - coming to rest on the corpse. You bend at the waist. Spot one beady, oil-flecked eye. Half-lidded. Gazing sightlessly out at the ocean. You see your own reflection, rising to meet you. The hollows of your eyes. (after: 20s)[There's something in the beak. [[Inspect it.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it + 2) You bite your tongue. Look out towards the sea. [[You should look. It's just a corpse.|Inspect the corpse.]] [[...I'm not going to force you.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= You reach down, prise the beak open. The flies scatter. It takes no force at all. Send your hand reaching in, lurching down this tiny throat. Trap your prize between thumb and forefinger. (if: $looking is 0)[Try not to recoil from the grime.] (if: $looking > 0)[Shudder as you work.] (if: $looking < 0)[The oil seeps into your skin.] [[Well? What is it?]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it -1) (unless: $litter is true)[Calm down. We're getting there.] You tug at the edges. Bag of clear plastic, protecting a sheet of paper. Damp. Stained. Improbably intact. [[Do your best to unfurl it.]] [[It's litter. Leave it be.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it - 1) I - (after: 5s)[...Thank you.] (after: 20s)[But I think I need to see. [[Okay. If you're sure.|Look closer.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=(set: $looking to it +2)(set: $litter to true) You toss it to the sand. It rests against the corpse. [[Go back the way you came.|Walk along the shore.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[=You lift a hand to the one remaining door. It almost falls off its hinges. (if:(history: where its name contains "Inside the room.")'s length is 0)[Birdcall. A warning cry. Several lift off to the air.](else:)[Tension in your body. Feeling of needing release.] [[Look around.|Inside the room.]] [[Put your head down. Try not to think. Walk back along the path.|Walk back along the path.]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[A narrow bed; sheets unruly. A portable stove, space around it littered with cast-iron pots. A stack of plastic containers. The slightest film of dust over all of it. The grass has been worn clean away. [[What else?]] [[Turn back.|Go inside.]]]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](text-style:"outline")[= A wooden surface - a desk. Stool tucked neatly underneath. At the centre of it, in pride of place, a machine. Analogue. Rectangular. (after: 3s)[No - you know this. It's a [radio]<radio|. (click: ?radio)[...It looks like it still works. (link-repeat: 'Switch it on.')[(track: 'beach', 'stop')(track: 'mad_girl_drowning', 'playwhenpossible')(goto: 'Listen to the radio.')]] [[Turn back.|Go inside.]] ]

(unless: (track: 'beach', 'isplaying'))[(track: 'beach', 'loop', true)(track: 'beach', 'play')](if:(history: where its name contains "Inside the room.")'s length is 0)[(set: $looking to it + 1)](text-style:"outline")[= It's not that you're a [coward]<coward|. (click: ?coward)[Just... it would be [wrong]<wrong|.] (click: ?wrong)[Wouldn't it? To look through their things. When, [well]<well|.] (click: ?well)[When you're the one who killed them. [[Walk back to the edge of the grass.|Look around.]] ]